Strengthening U.S. Antibiotic Resistance Efforts

Antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat to public health, patient safety, and national security. IDSA is working on multiple fronts to strengthen the United States’ response to antimicrobial resistance including the efforts of the Interagency Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance [chaired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] formed in the late 1990’s as well as the Trans-Atlantic Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (TATFAR) formed by the U.S. and European Union in November 2009. We seek better overall leadership and coordination of U.S. activities, strengthened funding, and enhanced surveillance, prevention and control, data collection, and research efforts. For this reason, IDSA enthusiastically endorses the Strategies to Address Antimicrobial Resistance (STAAR) Act, which, if enacted, would support the Interagency Task Force’s work and elevate the federal response overall. We also seek strengthened federal funding.

Antimicrobial-resistant infections kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. If you or a loved one has been harmed and you would like to support IDSA’s advocacy efforts by sharing your story, please contact Jennifer Ford at jmorales@idsociety.org.

IDSA's Efforts in Strengthening the U.S. Response to Antimicrobial Resistance

IDSA supports strengthened funding for antimicrobial resistance efforts in its statement submitted to the House Appropriations Committee covering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

In a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Margaret Hamburg and National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins, IDSA thanks the respective agencies for holding a productive and thought provoking public workshop on antimicrobial product development and enthusiastically welcomes NIH’s announcement of a forthcoming public-private partnership (PPP) to address antibiotic development and related effort to establish a master clinical trials protocol. IDSA has long advocated for a high-level PPP with representation from the federal government, academia, industry, physicians and other key stakeholders, to promote innovation and improvement in the discovery, development, and evaluation of new antibiotics and diagnostics.

IDSA applauds President Obama for highlighting the need to address resistance during his State of the Union address and urges him to take specific actions, including incentivizing development of new antibiotics and diagnostics, strengthening stewardship, improving surveillance, and investing in research.

IDSA supports a request from Representatives Waxman, DeGette, Pallone, and Dingell to the House Energy & Commerce Committee that a hearing be held on federal efforts to address antimicrobial resistance. Both the IDSA letter and the congressional request reference the September 2013 CDC report, Antimicrobial Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013 as evidence of the need for action.

IDSA sent a letter to President Obama seeking support for proposals addressing antimicrobial resistance that are currently being considered in Congress. The proposals include the Limited Population Antibacterial Drug (LPAD) Pathway, R&D Tax Credits for Antibiotic/Antifungal Drugs and Diagnostics, Strategies to Address Antimicrobial Resistance (STAAR) Act, and federal funding.